Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • News & Views
  • Published:

Spinal cord injury

A small step forward for spinal cord injury patients?

A recently published case report describes the use of epidural spinal cord stimulation to treat a patient with a complete cervical spinal cord injury. Clear improvements in facilitated standing and stepping were demonstrated, as well as some conscious control of movement.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References

  1. Krause, J. S., Devivo, M. J. & Jackson, A. B. Health status, community integration, and economic risk factors for mortality after spinal cord injury. Arch. Phys. Med. Rehabil. 85, 1764–1773 (2004).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Giszter, S. F. Spinal cord injury: present and future therapeutic devices and prostheses. Neurotherapeutics 5, 147–162 (2008).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Barrière, G., Leblond, H., Provencher, J. & Rossignol, S. Prominent role of the spinal central pattern generator in the recovery of locomotion after partial spinal cord injuries. J. Neurosci. 28, 3976–3987 (2008).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Ichiyama, R. M. et al. Step training reinforces specific spinal locomotor circuitry in adult spinal rats. J. Neurosci. 28, 7370 –7375 (2008).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Harkema, S. et al. Effect of epidural stimulation of the lumbosacral spinal cord on voluntary movement, standing, and assisted stepping after motor complete paraplegia: a case study. Lancet 337, 1938–1947 (2011).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Kumar, K. et al. The effects of spinal cord stimulation in neuropathic pain are sustained: a 24-month follow-up of the prospective randomized controlled multicenter trial of the effectiveness of spinal cord stimulation. Neurosurgery 63, 762–770 (2008).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Frigon, A. & Rossignol, S. Adaptive changes of the locomotor pattern and cutaneous reflexes during locomotion studied in the same cats before and after spinalization. J. Physiol. 586, 2927–2945 (2008).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to William S. Anderson.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Anderson, W., Lenz, F. A small step forward for spinal cord injury patients?. Nat Rev Neurol 7, 422–423 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrneurol.2011.108

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrneurol.2011.108

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing